It was in the name of “flexibility” that the Rangers lost Josh Jooris for nothing.

Jooris was placed on waivers Saturday and was claimed by the Coyotes on Sunday, meaning the 26-year-old forward, whom general manager Jeff Gorton had signed to a one-year, $600,000 deal this summer, is done with the Rangers.

“I think Jeff just wants to make more flexibility,” coach Alain Vigneault said before his team beat the Devils, 5-0, on Sunday night at the Garden. “I think it’s just a question of flexibility.”

Even though the Blueshirts are dealing with a handful of injuries to key players up front, Jooris became expendable when both Nicklas Jensen and Marek Hrivik came up from AHL Hartford and proved to be valuable pieces. The death knell for Jooris’ time on Broadway might have been the awful tripping penalty he took in the offensive zone during the 2-1 win over the Jets in Winnipeg on Thursday.

That was the last game he played, getting scratched for Friday night’s 1-0 overtime win over the Blackhawks in Chicago.

Jooris finished his 12 games as a Ranger with one goal and one assist.

Rick Nash missed his third straight game with a groin injury, but continued his rehab Sunday morning. Vigneault saw him, and said, “It’s coming along.” Nash is supposed to skate by himself Monday when the rest of the team is off.

“Probably in the same timetable that we had said,” Vigneault said, meaning the one-week schedule that could have Nash ready for Thursday’s game in Dallas.

Rookie defenseman Brady Skjei got his first career goal with 2.5 seconds remaining in the second period, a long slap shot that hit the shaft of Kyle Palmieri’s stick before knuckling over Cory Schneider’s glove.

“It was awesome,” said Skjei, playing in his 42nd career game, which includes five playoff games. “I’ve been waiting awhile and you know I got a lucky bounce, but I’ll take it for sure.”

Russian winger Pavel Buchnevich continued “following his program” to strengthen his core, according to Vigneault, as he hopes to avoid the back spasms that have kept him out since Nov. 12. Sunday’s was the 15th straight game he missed, and he should be ready within the next two weeks or so.

Vigneault also saw Matt Puempel on Sunday, who is recovering from a concussion suffered in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn.

“He was going through the protocol,” Vigneault said. “We was [doing] off-ice activity.”